THE
Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, recruited in the
1950s, commanded great respect. Considered the cream of the nation,
their integrity was beyond doubt. The writer, a 1953 batch IAS officer
of the Orissa cadre, is honest to the core. He stood firm against all
kinds of pressure. A Kodava by birth, he belongs to the Codanda family
in Madikeri, headquarters of Kodagu district in Karnataka.

Smith
may not have become the Chief Secretary of Orissa, but his innings at
the Centre did help him prove his mettle. He was Secretary to the
Government of India, Home, Company Affairs and the Planning
Commission, the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Comptroller and
Auditor-General of India.

Somiah narrates an
episode when he was the state Forest Secretary. In 1967, when Chief
Minister R.N. Singh Deo had told him to give remission to the
contractors of kendu leaf (a minor forest produce used for
wrapping in the manufacture of bidis) on the ground of a poor
crop, he refused on the ground that the contractors had made good
money in the preceding two years of the three-year lease. His troubles
soon started. He was shunted out to Cuttack as the Excise
Commissioner. Worse, following some "adverse remarks" in his
character roll, he was excluded in the panel for Joint Secretaries at
the Centre.

He fought against the
"adverse remarks" due to a "vengeful" Chief
Minister and sought protection in the empanelment procedure, but
failed. His successor heeded the Chief Ministerís advice and gave
remission to the contractors. Soon, it became a big corruption issue
that eventually led to the fall of the government. And one-and-a-half
years later, Somiahís stand was vindicated when the Justice Mitter
Commission (appointed by the Congress government) indicted the
previous government in granting relief to the kendu leaf
contractors which, it said was "unwarranted and mala fide".

The writer had his share
of problems during the Emergency (1975-77), when he was the Joint
Secretary (Police) in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He held that the
scale of arrests in the country was "enormous" and that
there should be no case of "illegal detention". When he
started examining the proposals of the Intelligence Bureau and
suggesting changes while sending the files to the Union Home
Secretary, he was told to resubmit the files to him without his own
proposals.

Somiah, however, stood
firm and told the Home Secretary that as an administrator, the former
should critically examine all the proposals and the latter was well
within his right to reject his suggestions while submitting the files
to the Minister. On the other hand, if the latter found merit in the
formerís proposals, he should endorse them for the Ministerís
decision. Somiah told the Secretary that if his stand was not
acceptable, he should either be shifted out of the department or
repatriated to Orissa.

The writer proved his
impeccable integrity while holding crucial positions. When he was the
Union Company Affairs Secretary (and by extension, the Chairman of the
Company Law Board with quasi-judicial powers), legal luminaries like
Nani Palkhivala and Asoke Sen were appearing before him in the
Monopoly and Restricted Trade Practices (MRTP) hearings.
Industrialists, too, were making a beeline to him for seeking
clearance under the MRTP Act. The writer describes how Dhirubhai
Ambani once tried to test his level of integrity. He bluntly refused
Ambaniís offer of some Reliance shares out of his promoterís
quota.

As the Union Home
Secretary, he dealt with some important issues such as the Operation
Black Thunder and the flushing out of terrorists from Amritsarís
Golden Temple, the Mizo and the Gorkhaland Accords. The writer should
have given a more in-depth analysis of the Operation Black Thunder,
especially his role in the North Block in handling the problem. He has
not thrown new light on the decisions taken by the crisis management
team during those critical days more than what had already been
reported in the Press.

Of course, the writer
mentions his momentous visit to the Golden Temple with his family
after the controversial operation because his boss, Union Home
Minister Buta Singh, was barred entry into the temple. He says his
prayers at the Harmindar Sahib did help "assuage much of the
perceived hurt".

Somiah is known for his
brilliant sense of wit and humour. He narrates an interesting
experience during his stint as the Collector and District Magistrate,
Mayurbhanj. Orissaís Accountant-General Sandilya (former President
Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnanís son-in-law) had, in a demi official
letter, sought Somiahís explanation as to how some revenue stamps of
higher denomination were eaten away by the rats at the Baripada
Collectorate. As he did not respond to the two reminders from the AGís
office, Sandilya had threatened to include the item as an "audit
para". (Those days the district officers were scared of any audit
objection and, therefore, tried their best to avoid it).

Somiah, without losing
his cool, sent a tongue-in-cheek reply to Sandilya. He wrote that he
had inspected the treasury strongroom, convened a meeting of the rats
who had damaged the revenue stamps. The "king rat" had told
him that they "nibbled" only the higher denomination stamps
since they found the gum behind these stamps to be
"sweeter". On receiving the reply, Sandilya and his
colleagues burst into peels of laughter and that was the end of the
audit objection.